1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to viewer orientation indicators, and more particularly to a set of symbols that are presented in perspective view, and which are used as viewer orientation indicators relative to an illustration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is often difficult for the viewer of an illustration, such as a technical drawing to understand the orientation, or viewpoint from which the illustration is drawn. A particular example of this problem is an illustration depicting detailed mechanical components of an automobile suspension system. The viewer of the illustration often finds it difficult to determine the viewpoint from which the illustration is made, and the viewpoint information is significant to the viewer's understanding and comprehension of the technical image. In an attempt to solve this problem, viewer orientation indicators have been utilized in association with such technical illustrations to provide the viewpoint orientation information of the illustration to the viewer.
FIG. 1 herein depicts a prior art image that has been utilized as a viewer orientation indicator for technical illustrations of automobile wheel components. As depicted in FIG. 1, the prior art indicator comprises a two dimensional depiction of an arrow having an arrow head and a shaft. The head of the arrow represents the front of the vehicle, such that the viewer of the indicator in association with a technical illustration can determine the viewpoint or orientation of the illustration relative to the vehicle orientation from the viewer's perspective. A capital letter F is placed in the head of the indicator to indicate the front of the vehicle. Significantly, it cannot be determined from the prior art indicator of FIG. 1 whether the viewpoint of the illustration is from the top side or the underside of the vehicle. Likewise, the prior art indicator cannot be utilized to provide information regarding other viewer orientations and viewpoints as related to such technical illustrations, such as from the right side, left side, or angular viewpoint orientation in three dimensional space.